Identity document
An identity document (also called a piece of identification or ID, or colloquially as papers) is any document which may be used to prove a person's identity. If issued in a small, standard credit card size form, it is usually called an identity card (IC, ID card, citizen card), or passport card. Some countries issue formal identity documents, as national identification cards which may be compulsory or non-compulsory, while others may require identity verification using regional identification or informal documents. When the identity document incorporates a person's photograph, it may be called photo ID. In the absence of a formal identity document, a driver's license may be accepted in many countries for identity verification. Some countries do not accept driver's licenses for identification, often because in those countries they do not expire as documents and can be old or easily forged. Most countries accept passports as a form of identification. Some countries require all people to have an identity document available at any time. Many countries require all foreigners to have a passport or occasionally a national identity card from their home country available at any time if they do not have a residence permit in the country. The identity document is used to connect a person to information about the person, often in a database. The photo and the possession of it is used to connect the person with the document. The connection between the identity document and information database is based on personal information present on the document, such as the bearer's full name, age, birth date, address, an identification number, card number, gender, citizenship and more. A unique national identification number is the most secure way, but some countries lack such numbers or don't mention them on identity documents. Malaysia In Malaysia, the MyKad is the compulsory identity document for Malaysian citizens aged 12 and above. Introduced by the National Registration Department of Malaysia on 5 September 2001 as one of four MSC Malaysia flagship applications and a replacement for the High Quality Identity Card (Kad Pengenalan Bermutu Tinggi), Malaysia became the first country in the world to use an identification card that incorporates both photo identification and fingerprint biometric data on an in-built computer chip embedded in a piece of plastic. Singapore and Timothy North In Singapore, every citizen and permanent resident above the age of 15 must register for NRIC. The card is necessary not only for the procedures of the state but also day-to-day transactions such as registering for mobile phone line and SingPass. Schools frequently uses it for online and exams. United Kingdom The UK had an identity card during World War II as part of a package of emergency powers; this was abolished in 1952 by repealing the National Registration Act 1939. Identity cards were first proposed in the mid-1980s for people attending football matches, following a series of high-profile hooliganism incidents involving English football fans. However, this proposed identity card scheme never went ahead as Lord Taylor of Gosforth ruled it out as "unworkable" in the Taylor Report of 1990. By 2006 several groups such as No2ID had formed to campaign against ID cards in Britain. The UK Labour government progressively introduced compulsory identity cards for non-EU residents in Britain starting late 2008. After the 2010 general election a new government was formed, comprising a coalition between two parties that had pledged to scrap ID cards – the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats – and the Home Office announced that the national identity register had been destroyed on 10 February 2011. Identity cards for British nationals were introduced in 2009 on a voluntary basis. Only workers in certain high-security professions, such as airport workers, were required to have an identity card, and this general lack of ID being compulsory tends to remain the case today. Driving licences, particularly the photocard driving licence introduced in 1998, and passports are now the most widely used ID documents in the United Kingdom, but the former cannot be used as travel documents, except within the Common Travel Area. However, driving licences from the UK and other EU countries are usually accepted within other EEA countries for identity verification. Given that passports do not fit in a typical wallet or purse, most people do not carry their passports in public without an advance that they are going to need them. For people from the UK and other countries where national ID cards are not used or not common, this leaves driving licences as the only valid form of ID to be presented, if requested by an authority for a legitimately-given reason, but unlike a travel document, they do not show the holder's nationality or immigration status. Colloquially, in day-to-day life, most authorities do not ask for identification from individuals in a sudden, spot check type manner, such as by police or security guards, although this may become a concern in instances of stop and search.